These Ralphs are always getting mixed up

Ralph Szymanski, a veteran South Bend firefighter, started to put on a new uniform one day at Station 11 and it wouldn't fit. Not even close. Come on, he hadn't gained that much weight. Over at Station 4, Ralph Szymanski, a first-year firefighter, couldn't squeeze into his uniform. Was somebody razzing this rookie? "I guess that's when we found out there were two of us and both of us on the fire department," says Ralph the Younger. Trimmed down now, he weighed 230 back then, while Ralph the Elder never got over 170 pounds. And during the years they were firefighters at the same time, they were always being sent each other's uniforms. "Sometimes checks, too," says Ralph the Younger. "I didn't want to give them back, though, because Ralph had a lot more seniority than I did." Ralph the Elder, now 80, became a firefighter back in 1951 and stayed with it for 24 years. Ralph the Younger, 64, came on in 1970 and retired after more than 30 years. They share the same name and both grew up in South Bend, but they aren't related. "But there is a certain brotherhood among firefighters so I guess we are brothers in some way," Ralph the Elder says. They certainly like each other, which is probably just as well. Somebody is always calling one of them and wanting the other, especially if they don't know their middle names (Walter for the Elder and John for the Younger). "I used to get lots of calls from guys who thought I was their teammate asking what time the (softball) game was that night," Ralph the Elder says. "I always told them that the game was called off." "No wonder we had so many forfeits," Ralph the Younger says. Ralph the Younger remembers a caller asking him if he was going to an upcoming wedding in Michigan. "My wife, Ann Marie, has a lot of relatives up there and so I told the caller I would check with her." Ann Marie? "What happened to Doris?" the caller asked. Doris is Ralph the Elder's wife. The two Ralphs also received each other's Christmas cards and invitations and even some bills. "When I went into our pharmacy one time to pick up a prescription, they asked me when I was going to settle up on my bill," Ralph the Elder recalls. What bill? Ralph the Younger's bill, apparently. "And when we get a card and I don't know the people who sent it, I put it on the table for Ann Marie to look at," Ralph the Younger says. "If she doesn't know them, either, we figure it is for Ralph and Doris." What complicated the situation even more was that Ralph the Elder worked as a custodian at the South Bend Public Library after he retired and Ralph the Younger also worked there part time as a security guard. If sometimes exasperating to others, the two Ralphs enjoy each other's existence. "I've always had a carpet cleaning business, and I'm sure Ralph has gotten a lot of my calls," Ralph the Younger says. "He could have gotten tired of it and told them to get lost but he never did. He always has been very polite." Ralph the Elder even had Ralph the Younger clean his carpets. "But it was a little weird to write out a check to Ralph Szymanski," he says. When Ralph the Elder retired from the fire department, the mix-ups weren't as plentiful. So did Ralph the Younger move up to the No. 1 Ralph in the department? "You couldn't ever replace the other Ralph," he says. "Everybody liked him and respected him. "Even so, our names still are mixed up," Ralph the Younger adds. Ralph the Elder nods at his namesake and then grins. "So make sure you keep your nose clean, OK?" Bill Moor's column appears on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Contact him at bmoor@sbtinfo.com, or write him at the South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626; (574) 235-6072.